Understanding
by darknessnl
Summary: Takes place during Uncertainty Principle. Terry and Don talk about Charlie's unwillingness to participate. DonTerry [OneShot: Terry isn't coming back for Season 2.]


**Author's Note:** This is my first Numb3rs fic. It'll probably be a one-shot, depending upon the feedback I get. Please note that I used to be a Charlie/Amita shipper. They were my favorite and I followed them more closely. But as a result of Amita's absence from the show I've started to pay close attention to Don/Terry and I like them a lot more.

**Summary:** Takes place during Uncertainty Principle. Terry reflects. (Don/Terry) One-Shot unless otherwise requested.

Don was pacing again, he always did that when something was bothering him. Terry knew. She'd seen him do it countless times before. No doubt, this had something to do with Charlie. It would never matter to Don how old Charlie was, it would never matter that he was a mathematical genius, or that he too helped put people in jail. It wouldn't matter that Charlie too had a social life, his own career, or that he was wise enough to keep himself out of trouble. Don would always see him as his little brother. And it didn't matter that Charlie's I.Q. was probably more than both Don's and his father's combined. It didn't matter that Don had been shot, he was only concerned about how Charlie was taking the mental strain of seeing all those people, people with families, lying in black bags waiting to be toted off to the mortuary. Don had that protective instinct. Terry knew it well. She'd been "victim" of his over-protective attitude several times. Then, she'd thought it to be a burden, now she looked upon it as more of a comfort. A comfort that was now absent from her life.

Don's guarding of Terry had lessened since they'd broken up. Sure he'd still make sure she was okay after a shootout but _partners_ do that. And that's all they were now. She remembered the times they used to drive up to some suspect's house and Don would ask her if she was ready. But it was a different question then, now it was just a common courtesy. Getting out of the car, he'd come around to her side and wait for her to shut her door after getting out. When they'd walk up to the door they'd walk up together. When their suspect would start to look Terry up and down Don would step noticably closer to her. Then, of course, the guy would make some snide remark, and Don would threaten him. Terry thought it was irritating then, she wasn't a little girl. But now, he'd just stand there, further away than he used to. And their suspect wouldn't be as discreet in his checking her out. It took all her restraint not to smack him.

Terry sighed and went back to her paperwork. Apparently Charlie wouldn't be helping out this time. He was busy working on some unsolvable math problem. So that meant a lot more work for Don, Terry and David. Terry looked at the clock, 3:07am. She'd been here forever. She looked down at the page again, and upon realizing she'd read the same line three times she shut the folder. Sliding the chair out she got up and walked over to the water cooler. She considered going home. But it was the half an hour drive that kept her from it. She had to be back here at six thirty anyway. There wasn't any point in going home.

Terry, turning around, saw Don still pacing. He'd started this almost an hour ago. She could almost swear that the carpet was wearing down rather quickly in his path. He looked at the wall, then at the floor, then at the screen on the desk. This cycle repeated four times before Terry moved. She strode to the conference room, where Don was pacing. Opening the door, he stopped. He looked at her for a second before sighing deeply and plopping down on the couch to his right.

"I can't get through to him, Terr." So it _was_ Charlie that was bothering him. "He's stowed himself away in the garage and is attempting to solve a giant math problem that nobody's been able to solve for hundreds of years."

She sat down next to him on the couch, a comfortable distance away, "Don..."

"He did this when Mom died. I never understood him. He locked himself away when Mom was dying, he didn't spend timme with her. He just worked on that stupid math problem. For weeks on end. For _weeks_, Terry. I don't understand..."

"Maybe it's just his way of dealing with things. Math is one of the only things he knows, Don. So it's going to be his way of solving things."

"I guess, but I still can't wrap my head around it, Terr."

"Charlie expects the answers to everything to be found in math. So, maybe he thinks that if he solves this problem all life's problems will go away. You know that, Don. You just don't want to see it."

"He'll come around, right?"

"Charlie will come around. Get some sleep, Don."

He settled back into the couch and within minutes sleep consumed him. And several minutes later, Terry found herself nodding off too.

David entered the office at six. He was early today, and rightfully so, with no Charlie this was bound to get a lot more difficult.

Opening the door to the conference room, he found Don and Terry asleep on the couch. Don was leaning against the arm of the couch his arm around Terry, her hand rested just below the bandaged wound, her head on his chest. Legs extended, hers over his.

Don began to stir and David decided to make a hasty exit, not allowing Don the knowledge of what woke him up, or that anyone knew about his supposedly-reforming relationship with Terry. Closing the door, David laughed to himself. Apparently Don hadn't gotten through to Charlie just yet.

**Author's Note:** I wasn't quite happy with this. But it wouldn't leave me alone. I know it's also WAY overdue. **This will stay a one-shot unless otherwise requested**. I may also give the story away. As in, someone else can take up the story line and I'll suggest that others pick up there after reading this. Like a sequel by another author. Leave a review.


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